Little Drew-by, The Drew-ster...

This post is totally overdue but only recently realized I never posted these pics of Drew when we spent the weekend with him while his parents, Kevin & Jolynn were away. So here is the little man... in ALL his sweetness.

Love you, buddy!

A Day (Okay, AN HOUR) @ Cosley Zoo

Cosley Zoo is located nearby and, upon the recommendation of several moms in Library Hour I decided to check it out during Brenda & Isaak's visit. Much to my little guy's disappointment, there were no gorillas or giraffes or lions. In fact, I think he accurately described the adventure by saying repeatedly, "Go big farm. Go big farm." The boys got most excited, I believe, in seeing a turtle swim in a small 24x24-inch tank -- go figure!

A fun place for city kids to see animals up close but without GRANDPA there with his tractors, the boys quickly lost interest & we condensed our adventure into about an hour.

Isaak Come to Xander's House!

My sister (Brenda) and nephew (Isaak) came to visit for a couple of days. Alexander loved his role of being a big brother/cousin -- a VERY delicate delicate balance between providing comfort (don't cry, Isaak, it's okay) and bossiness (no, that mine, no!).

While driving together, the boys LOVED to hold each others hands -- what cuteness!

I SO Mad, Mom!

We've been talking about emotions at our house lately. And for once, it is not ONLY mom's emotions that are included in the conversations :) Some phrases heard repeatedly include:

"Control your anger. No throwing."

"Keep trying. Don't get frustrated."

"Control your anger. No hitting."

"That makes ______ (insert: Jesus, daddy, mommy, gpa/gma, etc) sad."

"Control your anger (insert: b/c if you lose your temper one more time I just might lose mine, too!)

"Could we have a happy day? PLEASE..."

And lest you think we've JUST been talking, there's been quite a bit of this around here, too.

Is it okay to console myself with the words, "this too shall pass..." or is that me just being naive?

NEEDED: Extra Manpower!

You know you are getting older (and perhaps a bit wiser, too) when you hire out manual labor to the younger generation!

We had a partially fall-EN and partialling fall-ING fence along one side of our yard which needed to be de-constructed. Part of the process was digging out the fenceposts, including the concrete used to secure them in place. Two students from Blake's Sunday School class, Brock and Ian, volunteered for the task. Altogether, the boys were able to dig out 10 fenceposts. What a huge help!

AND...my apologies, AGAIN, for forgetting to purchase Monster -- I am glad your energy lasted without the extra boost :)

Assessing the situation...

THE SITUATION...

The littlest helper (aka MIMIC)...